Where will Pune get their support?

Jamie Alter's review of the Mumbai-Delhi encounter had an interesting yet obvious observation about Indian cricket fans - no matter who is playing, they will always cheer Sachin Tendulkar. And after the unveiling of the two new IPL teams, Kochi and Pune, that observation seems all the more poignant. I do not know the politics or the cricket well enough to comment on the Kochi franchise, but I will say the purchase had me surprised.

I had expected Ahmedabad to be the most sought after franchise, with the Gujarati population, both in and outside India, being the target of any shrewd businessman. To say that the Gujaratis are among the most well-represented Indians abroad is an understatement, and I was definitely shocked not to see Ahmedabad snapped up. The Pune choice though, was even harder to comprehend. Being a Maharashtrian with links to Mumbai and Pune, I will have two teams to support next year, and it does fill me with a small sense of pride that my home state is so popular.

Yet it confuses me, the logic behind the decision, for the point I mentioned in the first paragraph. We Marathis are a proud people, and even though many Punekars tend to dismiss the Mumbai parochialism (true Marathis come from Pune, not Mumbai, you see), it is hard to see any Punekar supporting Pune as their first team, when our favourite son plays for another.

And what of the others? The fans from Dhule, Nashik, Thane, and Nagpur? In fact, what of any cricket fan who does not have a strong bond with the city of Pune? Where does the Sahara Group plan on getting its support from? I don't know the intricate details of how a team makes money. Obviously ticket sales, television rights, and winning matches come into play. Surely, though, a large chunk of the profits comes from creating a fan following? From selling T-shirts, caps, and other merchandise, and creating a domestic (or "global") base that you feed from, and that you can trust to support you thick and thin.

Does the Sahara group expect the people of Pune to throw away their Mumbai Indians T-shirts (which they undoubtedly have already bought), and start supporting the new Pune team? I for one will not, and though the Pune team may slowly grow on me, I don't think I will ever understand the logic behind this decision. Not until Pune win the next IPL, that is.